758 



HORTICULTURE 



following notes, amongst others, under the date 1724: 

 "The plants of England, as well those ot the fields 

 and orchards as of the garden, that have been brought 

 over into New England, suit very well with the soil, and 

 grow to perfection. The apples are as good as those of 

 England, and loos fairer, as well as the pears; but they 

 have not all of the sorts. The peaches rather excel 



1078. Relic of colonial days — apple tree at 250 years. 



those of England, and there is no trouble or expence of 

 walls for thein; for the peach trees are all standards, 

 and Mr. Dudley has had, in his own garden, 700 or 800 

 fine peaches of the rare-ripes, growing at a time on one 

 tree. * * * The peach trees are large and fruitful, 

 and commonly bear in 3 years from the stone. * * * 

 The common cherries are not so good as the Kentish 

 cherries of England; and they have no dukes, or heart- 

 cherries, unless in two or three gardens." It was re- 

 ported that people of "late years have run much upon 

 orchards." The product of these orchards was chiefly 

 cider. " Some of their apple trees will make 6, some have 

 made 7 barrels of cider: but this is not common; and 

 the apples will yield from 7 to 9 bushels for a barrel of 

 cider: a good apple tree will measure from 6 to 10 feet 

 in girt." Dudley mentions a bloomless apple, and "the 

 tree was no graft." In common with other new countries. 

 New England astonished persons with the luxuriant 

 growth of the plants. "An onion, set out for seed, will 

 rise to i feet 9 inches in height. A parsnip will reach to 

 8 feet; red orrice [orach] will mount 9 feet; white or- 

 rice 8. In the pastures he measured seed muUen 9 feet 

 2 inches in height, and one of the common thistles above 

 8 feet." Record is made of a pumpkin vine which grew 

 unattended in a pasture. It made a single stem which 

 "ran along over several fences, and spread over a large 

 piece of ground far and wide." "From this single vine 

 were gathered 2G0 pumpkins; one with another as large 

 as a half peck; enough in the whole, to fill a large 

 tumbrel, besides a considerable number of small and 

 unripe pumpkins." Indian corn was "the most prolific 

 grain." Mr. Dudley did not accept the notion that the 

 mixing of corn is due to the intermingling of the roots, 

 but thought that it was brought about: through the 

 agency of the wind. He also noted that the hop and the 

 running kidney bean twine in opposite directions on 

 their support. 



The colonial ornamental gardens were unlike our own 

 in the relative poverty of plants, in the absence of the 

 landscape arrangement, in the rarity of greenhouses, and 

 the lack of smooth-shaven lawns (for the lawn mower 



HORTICULTURE 



was not invented till this century). These gardens 

 were of two general types: the unconventional personal 

 garden, without form but not void (Fig. 1079), in which 

 things grew in delightful democracy; the conventional, 

 box-bordered, geometrical garden, in which things grew 

 in most respectful aristocracy. (Plate XIV.) There 

 were many interesting and elaborate private gardens in 

 the colonial days. One of the earliest and best was that 

 of Governor Peter Stuyvesant, of New Amsterdam (New 

 York, near Third Avenue), known as the "Bouwerie," 

 where 40 or 50 negro slaves, and also white servants, 

 were kept at work. "The road to the city had been put 

 in good condition, and shade trees were planted on each 

 side where it crossed the Governor's property." The 

 Bowery of these degenerate days has lost the Eden-like 

 features which distinguished its illustrious progenitor. 



Excellent gardens were attached to the residences of 

 wealthy persons by the middle of last century, and prob- 

 ably earlier, and they were said to have been encour- 

 aged by the example and precept of Washington. There 

 are records of many large and meritorious collections of 

 plants a century and more ago. William Hamilton's 

 collection at Philadelphia was one of the best, and it 

 contained a large collection of exotics. It flourished to- 

 wards the close of last century, and was broken up in 

 1828. William Jackson began "a highly interesting col- 

 lection of plants at his residence in Londongrove," Penn- 

 sylvania, in 1777. About 1800 Joshuaand Samuel Pierce, 

 East Marlborough, Pa., "began to adorn their premises 

 by tasteful culture and planting," and by the establish- 

 ment of an arboretum of evergreens. The most famous 

 botanic garden w-hich North America has ever had was 

 John Bartram's, established at Philadelphia in 1728. It 

 contained a great collection of native plants, and some 

 of the trees are now amongst themost valued landmarks 

 of the city. Bartram was a skilful farmer and gardener, 

 and his sons, John and William, inherited his tastes 

 and continued the garden. The elder Bartram was 

 probably the first American to perform successful ex- 

 periments in hybridization. Bartram's house (Fig. 1080). 

 built by himself, is still one of the sights of the environs 

 of Philadelphia, and the site of the garden, with many 

 of the old trees standing, is now happily a public park. 

 Bartram's cousin, Humphry Marshall, e.stablished a bo- 

 tanic garden at West Bradford, in Chester county. Pa., 

 in 177:). John Bartram's name is preserved to us in the 

 moss Bartramia, and Marsliall's in the tjenus Marshallia, 



1079. An old time gard 



applied to small CompositiP of the eastern st.ates. The 

 Elgin botanic garden, near New York, was established 

 in 1801 by David Hosack, a man of great learning and 

 of the keenest sympathies with rural occupations. He 



